MB Civic

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http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/22/1323211

Now this guy knows how to play the game!..Fascinating interview from Democracy Now. Here’s a few choice quotes:

“We said we were going to nationalize the gas and oil sector. We did, without expropriating or kicking out any of the companies. We said it’s important to have partners, but not bosses. And we did it. The investor has the right to recuperate their investment and to a reasonable profit, but we can’t allow for the sacking of the country and only the companies benefiting, not the people. I just came from a meeting of political analysts, foreign policy analysts here, and they seemed to understand our proposals.”

…

“We’ve also made advances in terms of giving people legal documents, something that oftentimes indigenous peoples don’t have. These are the social problems that my family has lived. My mother, for example, never had an ID. She didn’t know when she was born. There’s an anecdote about my father. One day I found his ID, and there was a birthdate on it. I said to my sister Esther, “Okay, let’s have a party. We know what my father’s birthday is.” She was very happy. She said, “Yes, let’s do this birthday party.” We said to my father, “We’re going to do a party for you.” And he said, “But I don’t know what my birthday is.” We showed him his ID, and we said, “Here it is. Here’s your birthday.” And he said very bitterly, “I had to invent that date when I was drafted in the military.” My father didn’t know when he was born.”

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On Chavez calling Bush “Daiblo” at the UN

“I’m not interested in commenting about these words between two presidents. But I’m convinced that people who represent a family, they can be professionals or not, they can be presidents or not. They all have dignity. One thing is to question someone’s policies. We can have differences. But to attack someone’s image or a direct offense, I don’t think I share that.”

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“In 2002, former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, Manuel Rocha, said, “Don’t vote for Evo Morales.” And after that, people came out massively to vote for me. I said he was my best campaign chief.”

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On nationalizing the gas fields:

“[The gas companies] weren’t going to have as much profit as before, because the largest gas fields, the companies only gave 18% of royalties to the state and took 82% in profit. But now, with the new law we’ve changed that around, now 82% for the government, for the state, and 18% for the companies. They’re staying. There’s no problems. And from that large field that Petrobras is managing, we’ve already seen $150 million coming into government coffers now.”